People have the right to take care of themselves. However, do these rights pertain to adolescents caking up on cosmetics? To claim one’s right, the individual must be capable of taking full responsibility for his or her actions related to the fulfilling of the said mentioned right. This not only includes actions that affect himself/herself, but also those that may alter others in some way. Naturally, this means that it requires an understanding of the benefits as well as the repercussions of any right. Just because others are doing it, or to copy photoshop-perfected illusions shown in the media, are not solid reasons for teenagers to apply makeup. By allowing them to indulge in such activities, young adults are prone to being victimized by lookism or even be forced to wear make-up even when they don’t want to, without them even knowing.

There are probably various reasons for wanting to use makeup, but the most dominant one would be because people want to look better. So, how does this adverselyaffect teenagers? Young adults, by definition, are people still in the process of becoming adults and therefore lack proper sets of values because they’re in the process of obtaining these values. This means that they are at an age where they’re not really kids, but they’re not adults either. This characteristic is what makes them so vulnerable to changes, and while makeup isn’t responsible directly for misleading them to believe in what’s wrong (I believe the media is to blame for this, although that’s an entirely different topic), it’s enough to act as a stimulus for them to use it and close the gap between reality and falsified deities portrayed in the media. The belief that everyone but himself/herself has perfect skin like an actor’s since that’s how it is for everyone shown in media content, leads teens to believe that they need to follow suit — and the best way to do it, is none other than using makeup.

However, because makeup isn’t permanent, when it wears off, teens are left with a sense of emptiness that’s only worsened by more use of makeup, kind of like how people often vie to get better stuff, but once they have tomake do with what they were using previously, they feel like it’s worse than before, even though they probably used what they were using for a while without any complaints. Well, this endless cycle of using more makeup to feel less deprived, only to end up feeling more deprived is obviously wrong for reasons like losing oneself in the pursuit of a non-existing perfect appearance and judging others by their looks which is why teenage makeup is a problem.

While I feel like I’m stating the obvious, it’s necessary to point out that makeup is designed for adult skin. The chemicals in various makeup are blatantly harmful, and they only prove worse for those that are still in the process of maturing. The metabolism in teenage bodies are much higher than those found in a grown up’s, which leads to better circulation of the skin. What this means is that younger skin tend to be more able to take care of itself without extensive help from cosmetics. It’s why every Korean makeup commercial ever shows off their product for having the ability to make people’s skin “younger.” By introducing unnecessary toxics and coloring chemicals to the skin, not only do teenagers accelerate cellular aging, they also clog up their pores with makeup residue, diminishing the skin’s ability to breathe and absorb nutrients. This results in makeup not being as nearly effective in their later years which only worsens the problem since they’re bound to use more demanding products to satisfy themselves.

Everyone dreams of a better version of him/herself. However, it’s not hard to see that if he or she is doing so to simply look better in someone else’s perspective, there’s something wrong behind the thought process. Judging oneself and others by how they look is the most superficial way of living in a world where there’s so much more to value; and as adults, it is our responsibility to make younger people realize that.